A Probabilistic Domain-knowledge Framework for Nosocomial Infection Risk Estimation of Communicable Viral Diseases in Healthcare Personnel: A Case Study for COVID-19

TL;DR

This paper develops a probabilistic, domain-knowledge-based framework to estimate infection risks of communicable viral diseases among healthcare personnel, aiding PPE allocation and safety planning during pandemics like COVID-19.

Contribution

It introduces a novel, integrated risk model combining individual and population-level assessments using Bayesian networks and transmission dynamics, validated with COVID-19 case data.

Findings

Higher risk for nurses, medical assistants, and respiratory therapists.

Model achieved 78.23% accuracy in COVID-19 risk prediction.

Estimated infection risks in Texas and California healthcare settings.

Abstract

Hospital-acquired infections of communicable viral diseases (CVDs) are posing a tremendous challenge to healthcare workers globally. Healthcare personnel (HCP) is facing a consistent risk of hospital-acquired infections, and subsequently higher rates of morbidity and mortality. We proposed a domain knowledge-driven infection risk model to quantify the individual HCP and the population-level healthcare facility risks. For individual-level risk estimation, a time-variant infection risk model is proposed to capture the transmission dynamics of CVDs. At the population-level, the infection risk is estimated using a Bayesian network model constructed from three feature sets including individual-level factors, engineering control factors, and administrative control factors. The sensitivity analyses indicated that the uncertainty in the individual infection risk can be attributed to two variables: the number of close contacts and the viral transmission probability. The model validation was implemented in the transmission probability model, individual level risk model, and population-level risk model using a Coronavirus disease case study. Regarding the first, multivariate logistic regression was applied for a cross-sectional data in the UK with an AIC value of 7317.70 and a 10-fold cross validation accuracy of 78.23%. For the second model, we collected laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 cases of HCP in different occupations. The occupation-specific risk evaluation suggested the highest-risk occupations were registered nurses, medical assistants, and respiratory therapists, with estimated risks of 0.0189, 0.0188, and 0.0176, respectively. To validate the population-level risk model, the infection risk in Texas and California was estimated. The proposed model will significantly influence the PPE allocation and safety plans for HCP